Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Love, Romance and Cicadas?

Cicadas...up until I moved to Tennessee, this insect was something often mentioned in romance novels. For example:

The sunlight disappeared beyond the horizon, leaving James and Cathy sitting in semi-darkness on the front porch. An air of awkwardness hung between them, neither knowing what to say. Cicada's crooned in the background, calling out to a willing mate.

Well brothers and sisters, I'm here to tell you that the crooning around here today is horrific. The trees everywhere are filled with these nasty looking insects that possess not even a hint of romance when you have one land on you.Recent rain stirred them from their perches and they fly about in swarms looking for a place to land. Woe be you if you stop long enough.

These insects return from the ground every thirteen years to mate. Although considered harmless, they are a nuisance if you like the outdoors. Cicadas live on tree roots underground for all those years and then in an immature form, climb up the tree where they attach themselves in shells from which they will morph into the beautiful bug shown above.

My son's lawn looks as if it's been aerated. So many holes explain the deafening sound you hear when you go outside. If you want to get an idea of the constant drone click here. Just magnify the noise ten times.

Some of these suckers get huge and are so big they merely bounce off the windshield of your car. I passed through a swarm today and it sounded like someone was pelting me with stones. Oh, sweet romance...no more shall I think of love when I hear a cicada.

Ah, the Beauty of the Great Outdoors!For example: the stunning colours of the partridge, which (when NOT gainfully employed sitting in a Pear Tree) can be found nesting in the undergrowth at our local Boy Scout Camp Site ...where they sneak up right outside your tent half an hour BEFORE sunrise, scream at the top of their voices and run off with the most EVIL of all possible evil laughs!

Thanks for a really good chat last Sunday night, Ginger: really enjoyed the craic

Only you, Ginger, would combine Cicadas with romance in a blog. That's why i love ya, gal. All in all tho, these horrible, noisy, disgusting bugs make the most annoying sound I've ever heard. And that's their romantic side. Their looks are something out of a fifties scifi movie. The first time I saw and heard these critters, I thought my heart would stop. And it was a whole tree full of them. In Florida we have something called the Palmetto Bug, which is a flying cockroach. Hit one of the Palmetto fronds after dark and hundreds will fly out at you. But you know what? I prefer them to the cicada. Less buzz. We don't have either one out in California that I know of, but maybe I've just been avoiding them.

Oh what a strange lot you are. Personally, I love the little 'bug' ers. But then, I love looking at bugs up close. The intricate detail in the heads alone, how they observe us so intelligently. One can almost see their little brains working overtime, thinking...streuth - God put this lot in charge of us? Back to cicadas. For me, they evoke all that is wonderful about the Mediterranean. Sultry, hot days, lazing in the olive groves, the smell of eucalyptus, myrtle and pine. I have spent many a romantic moment under the watchful eye of cicadas.